Sprinkling device



A. M. ANDREWS June 5, 1956 SPRINKLING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Oct. 31, 1952 INVENTOR.

ALVADORE M. A NDREWS ape/WM AT TORNEY June 5, 1956 A. M. ANDREWS 2,749,180

SPRINKLING DEVICE Filed Oct. 31, 1952 5 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOR. ALVADORE M. ANDREWS QLMQ WM/ ATTORNEY June 5, 1956 A. M. ANDREWS SPRINKLING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed 001;. 51, 1952 INVENTOR.

ALVADORE M. ANDREWS TTORNEY United States Patent SPRINKLING DEVICE Alvadore M. Andrews, Portland, Oreg.

Application October 31, 1952, Serial No. 318,065

4 Claims. (Cl. 299104) The present invention relates to lawn sprinkling devices. The present application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial No. 292,148, filed June 6, 1952, and entitled Sprinkler and Coupler Therefor (now abandoned).

The most common forms of lawn sprinkler now in general use are of a mechanical type and which distribute water over a circular pattern. Most lawns, however, are not of circular shape but are generally of rectangular configuration so that difficulty is encountered in obtaining uniform coverage of the lawn area without an excessive waste of water. Again, many lawn areas are relatively long and narrow, such as parking strips, and which areas are exceedingly difficult to water with the conventional circular pattern sprinklers. For sprinkling narrow strips of lawn, iron pipe arrangements have been devised having a Series of spaced-apart spray heads extending along one side of the pipe and with base elements attached to the pipe for supporting it in the desired, upright condition. Such spray pipes, however, are not readily adjustable as to length depending upon the needs, and are difficult to handle and to store.

Hoses have been provided heretofore having a series of spray heads spaced along the length thereof, each spray head sprinkling water over a circular pattern but such sprinkler hose arrangements are relatively expensive, cumbersome and frequently are unsuitable for universal usage.

A further common form of lawn watering device con sists of an elongated conduit formed of canvas and frequently referred to as a soaker. Such a soaker is not a sprinkling device but permits seepage of water through the pores of the fabric throughout the entire length thereof. While such a soaker .is particularly suitable for use around shrubbery where wetting of the foliage is not desired, it is quite impractical for use in watering a large lawn area due to the restricted coverage.

It is a general object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved irrigating device having almost universal applicability in that it is suitable for irrigating areas of virtually any shape, rectangular or irregular. It is especially suitable for irrigating long, narrow strips of lawn with a substantially even distribution of water. Moreover, the device of the present invention may be used equally well as a soaker in and around shrubbery when desired. Furthermore, the irrigating device of the present invention is extremely light in weight, easy to handle and store, simple in design and construction, and has a low manufacturing cost.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent hereinafter.

-In accordance with an illustrated embodiment, the sprinkling device of the present invention comprises an elongate conduit means or hose having a plurality of small, longitudinally spaced-apart apertures therethrough to permit the escape of fine streams of water. The configuration of the hose is such that it has at least one broad surface upon which it rests when stretched upon the iCC ground, the apertures being confined to the opposite side of the hose whereby water will be sprayed upwardly and laterally of the hose.

For a more detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a lawn sprinkler in accor-dance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1 and showing a hose formed in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a view illustrating a mode of manufacturing the hose shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of a section of the hose shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional diagrammatic view illustrating how water is sprayed from the hose of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a manner of forming a modified hose from a single piece of plastic sheet;

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the hose of Fig. 6 showing it in its expanded operative configuration;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a manner of making a hose in accordance with a further modification of the invention;

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the hose of Fig. 8 illustrating its expanded configuration;

Fig. 10 is a perspective View illustrating another convenient and inexpensive manner of making sprinkler hoses;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the expanded configuration of a hose made in the manner illustrated in Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is a top plan view of a manner of arranging a pair of individual tubes to form an orientable hose in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 13 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 1313 of Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified arrangement of tubes to form an orientable hose;

Fig. 15 is a perspective view showing a section of a single tube adapted to be oriented in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 16 is a view showing a hose formed of a pair of parallel elongate tubes mounted on the ridge of the roof of a building so as to spray the opposite sides of the roof;

Fig. 17 is a view showing another arrangement for mounting hoses along the ridge of a roof;

Fig. 18 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 18-18 of Fig. 19;

Fig. 19 is a top plan view of an arrangement of hoses suitable for mounting as shown in Fig. 17; and

Fig. 20 is an enlarged cross-sectional view through the wall of a tube formed of plastic sheet and showing the preferred configuration of the sprinkler openings therein.

It will be obvious from a perusal of the present specification that the hoses of the invention may be made in a wide variety of forms and types. Because of the minimum consumption of materials involved and low cost it has been found expedient to form the hoses of the invention from relatively thin plastic sheet, sheets of vinyl chloride-acetate having been found to be particularly suitable. Sheets of various thickness may be used, though a thickness of from about 8 to 12 thousandths of an inch is desirable to provide a hose having sufiicien't strength to withstand normal handling and the abrasive wear occurring during the usage of the hose. To more clearly illustrate the invention, the thickness of the sheet is shown in the drawings in exaggerated proportion.

' Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that the sprinkling hose of the invention comprises in general an elongate conduit means formed of thin, flexible water impervious material. Such hoses as manufactured and packaged for sale are collapsed flatwise as indicated in Figs. 3, 6 and 8, the opposite side walls being shown slightly separated in those views, however, to more clearly show certain details of the hoses. However, the hoses are expandable when filled with water to a cross-sectional configuration having a substantially horizontal major axis and a substantially vertical minor axis and presenting at least one broad surface upon which the hose may be placed to orient it in position over a supporting surface. Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, a sprinkler is illustrated comprising a pair of elongated tubes or conduits 10, 11 secured together in longitudinally parallel relation. It will be observed from reference to Fig. 2 that the sprinkler has a major horizontal dimension or axis indicated by the dotted line 25 and a minor vertical dimension or axis indicated by the dotted line 26. The tubes are connected at one end to a coupling device 12 by means of which the tubes may be coupled to a single water faucet or the like. A suitable coupling device for use with hoses formed of thin, flexible material is that illustrated in my application Serial No. 292,148, filed June 6, 1952. The opposite ends 13 of the tubes are sealed closed in any suitable manner. Each of the tubes 10, 11 is provided with a plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart apertures or openings 15 through which fine streams of water 14 are ejected from the tubes. Preferably the openings 15 are formed in a plurality of laterally spaced-apart, longitudinally extending rows indicated by the dotted lines 16, 17, 18 and 19 in Fig. 4, and over corresponding minor circumferential portions of the surface of the tubes 10, 11 displaced between approximately 90 degrees and 180 degrees from the united portion of a tube, whereby water will be sprayed in a substantially evenly distributed pattern on each of the opposite sides of the hose as shown in Fig. 5. As most clearly seen in Fig. 4, one row 16 of the openings is arranged substantially along the uppermost portion of the tube While the other rows 17, 18 and 19 are each spaced successively angularly apart to the side of a tube away from the other tube whereby water sprayed from the openings of row 16 will fall upon the area immediately adjacent to the hose, and the water sprayed from the rows 17, 18, 19 will fall upon areas lying progressively more distant from the hose as indicated in Fig. 5. The openings 15 are preferably of a small diameter of about, for example, 0.007 inch whereby the streams ejected from the openings will cover a wide area as indicated in Fig. 5. Obviously, the exact spacing of the openings will depend upon the diameter of the tubes making up the hose and the size of the openings 15 as well.

The hoses of the invention may be made and secured together by any suitable method but they may be conveniently manufactured by the method of my Patent No. 2,500,053, issued March 7, 1950. In accordance with that method the tubes illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 are formed by overlapping the edge portions 21, 22 of the longer sides of an elongated, rectangular sheet of plastic with a thread 23 impregnated with a bond-effecting liquid disposed between the overlapped edges. Preferably the sheet from which the tube is formed is previously perforated as by the method and apparatus of my copending application, Serial No. 316,037, filed October 21, 1952, now Patent No. 2,683,208, issued July 6, 1954. After the overlapping step, the edge portions 21, 22 are pressed together to express the solvent from the thread 23 so as to effect a bond between the adjacent, overlapped surface portions of the sheet. In like manner a pair of tubes may be jointed together by placing a thread 24 impregnated with bond-effecting liquid between a pair of tubes overlapped in the manner indicated in Fig. 3 and thereafter applying pressure to the overlapped portions to express the liquid from the thread and to bond the tubes to one another.

A convenient manner of making a dual tube hose from a single sheet of plastic is shown in Fig. 6. In this instance the opposite side portions 28, 29 of a rectangular sheet of plastic are overfolded upon the same surface of the sheet with the opposite marginal edge portions 30, 31 of the sheet folded between the corresponding side portions 28, 29 and the central portion 32 of the sheet. The adjacent surfaces of the marginal edge portions 30, 31 are bonded to the central portion 32 of the sheet relatively closely adjacent to longitudinal center line of the sheet, the bonding being effected in any suitable manner, such as, for example, by placing a solvent impregnated thread 33 between each of the marginal edge portions and adjacent surface of the sheet and applying pressure to express the solvent from the thread. The expanded configuration of the hose is shown in Fig. 7 in which it may be seen that pair of fluid conduits 34, 35 of substantially equal diameter are provided connected together by the narrow segment of the sheet extending along the center thereof between the areas along which the marginal edge portions 30, 31 are bonded. It will be noted that the expansive forces of water in the hose will be applied in shear to the bonded surfaces rather than in tension, which is desirable, of course, since the bonded joints will have much greater strength in shear. Preferably the sheet from which the hose is formed is perforated prior to the forming operation so as to provide suitable openings 15 in each of the conduits 34, 35 for effecting spraying as above described.

Another manner of forming a dual-tube hose from a single sheet of plastic is shown in Fig. 8. In this modification the opposite side portions 36, 37 of an elongate sheet of plastic or other suitable water impervious mate rial is rolled or turned toward the opposite surfaces of the sheet with the opposite marginal edge portions 38, 39 folded inwardly between the side portions 36, 37, respectively, and the unfolded portion of the sheet. The folded side portions 36, 37 are each brought beyond the longitudinal center line of the sheet a substantially equal distance whereby they are in relatively overlapping relation to one another, and the marginal edge portions 38, 39 are each bonded in fluid tight relation to the surface portion of the sheet immediately adjacent thereto. The impregnated thread method of my patent, supra, may be used to effect this bonding, and a thread 41 for carrying the solvent or bonding liquid in accordance with such method is shown between the bonded surface portions. As shown in Fig. 9, the foregoing provides a pair of fluid conduits 42, 43 for which the centermost portion of the sheet serves as a common wall and which wall is substantially vertical when the hose is filled with water and rests upon the ground. Preferably the sheet is perforated before forming the hose to provide sprinkling openings 15 along the conduits 42, 43 in substantially the same relative positions shown in previous figures and more particularly described in reference to Figs. 2, 4 and 5.

A further convenient and inexpensive manner of manufacturing hoses in accordance with the invention is indicated on the view of Fig. 10 which shows a pair of superposed elongate sheets 44, 45 of flexible plastic material which are united together by any suitable method along narrow longitudinally extending scams or portions 46, 47, 48, 49, and 51, spaced apart laterally substantially equal distances. The united sheets may be out along spaced-apart seams thereof to form united pairs of parallel elongate conduits 53, 54 as illustrated in Fig. 11. Alternatively, the sheets 44, 45 may be cut at other of the seams to form three or more parallel conduits. Prior to scaling the sheets 44, 45 together along the aforesaid portions, one of the sheets, the upper sheet 44 in this instance, may be provided with a plurality of laterally and longitudinally spaced-apart openings 15 in each of the portions thereof which will be subtended by the united portions of the sheet. It will be obvious that the sheet 44 is preferably perforated to provide for an even distribution-of water sprayed from the hoses'formedrinsaccord- -ance-with this method.

IIt:will be seen that-each of the hoses describediabove is. adapted to rest upon thesgroundwithlthe individual tubes or conduits thereof in side-by-side relation. Preferablyeach of the conduitport-ions-making up a=particular hose is of substantially the same expandedrcross-sectional area whereby the longitudinal axis of. each' conduit willibe spaced a substantially equal :distance above the ground when the hose is in operation. As willbe' apparent from. the various views, in each of the hoses described above only one of the circumferential portions thereof subtended by a plane. extending along the:forementioned longitudinal axes of :a hose is'provided with: a plurality of small spacedeapart openingslS WherebyJWater will? be sprinkled upwardly .and outwardly from the hose when it isplaced'upon the ground in the operative position shown in various figures. On the other hand, if the. relative positionof the hose is reversed water will beemitted directly upon the ground beneath the. hose. to provide an effective soaking type of irrigation device.

'It will be'obvious that it is not absolutely necessarythat the conduits forming the hose of theinventionbeunited together throughout theirfull extent. In Figs. l2and113 areshown a pair of conduits 55, '56 which aret united together at spaced-apart intervals 57 .along their length. Suchan arrangement may be particularly desirablewhen the. conduits are formed by an extrusion, process; though, of course, individual tubes such as those shown inFigs. 2 and 3 maybe joined in this manner. The conduits 55, 56 are provided with openings 15 spaced to assure-a fine, even spray of water on each of the opposite sidesof the hose.

An orientable structure may also be providedcbysecuring-a pair of supporting tubes 60,61 on each of the oppo- ;site-sides of a larger principal tube 62 as-shown1in the cross-sectional view of Fig. 14. Such a structuretmay conveniently be formed by an extrusion process and is shown as'so formed. The-principal tube162 is; preferably provided with openings 15 on eachof the upper side portions thereof and the supporting tubes 60, 61 are each provided with openings on their outermost upper side portion asshown. As will be evident; in this instance the hose ispar'ticula'rlyadapted to sprinkling but will not"beas easily arranged for soaking the ground as in the-embodiments previously described since the-hose wilht-ilt'to one "side orthe'ot-her with the-result that some water' may spray sideways rather than-directly upon the ground. n the Other hand, this maynot bebbjectionablein many instances.

A further modification of the invention that is primarily designed-for sprinkling is illustrated-in Fig. l--wherein asubstantially-flat circumferential portion 65 of atube is "-formed of material of thickness much greater than the remaining portion 66 thereof which thickened portion will i .resist deformation when water is supplied to the tube-and will provide a substantially flat base upon which the tube may be oriented. The longitudinally extending central part of the upper portion 66 of the tube may be provided with suitable openings through each of the opposite sides thereof to accomplish the desired sprinkling.

A unique application of a dual tube hose of the inventionis illustrated in Fig. 16 which is an end view of a gable roof 69 showing a hose, such as those of embodiments shown in Figs. 1 to 11, comprising a pair of parallel tubes 70, 71 mounted along the ridge of the roof with one tube on each of the opposite sides thereof, whereby water may be sprinkled uniformly over the opposite sides of the roof as indicated at '72 to cool the roof, and more important, the dwelling. On very sharply peaked roofs the hose may be maintained in position without additional support, but a supporting bracket 73 such as shown may be desired at intervals along the length of the hose to assure maintenance of the hose in proper position espe- "daily when the: ridge; isr'relau'vely .blunt :or provided; with ;Fig."l8..as formed in the manner .illustrated in,Figs.--8v and '9. The;pairs of:.tubes 75,76 are connected together: in laterally spaced-apart, longitudinallyparallel relation by suitable Web means such. .as a relatively wide web 77 of plastic sheet or other suitableflexible material whereby .the device maybealigned .alongthe ridge of. a roof with the web 77 extending along the peak thereof and support- :ingone of the-pairs .oftubes 75, '76 on each of the. opposite sides of the.ridge'asshownin Fig. 17. 'Theouterrnost tube 78 of each pair is .not perforated in this-instance and is sealed at each of its opposite ends as shownin Fig. 19. The innermost tube 79 of eachpair isperforated along its length to spray water upwardly and outwardly ,of the tube when arranged on aroof as shown in Figy17. .The innermost tubes 79 are sealed at one endand a suit- .able coupling. device80; is provided at their opposite ends for connecting the inner most tubes 79' to a water outlet. Communicating means such as the openings 81 (Fig. 18) inthe common-Wall between the outermost tube 78 and theinnermost tube 7-9-are provided so that water'may -flow into the outermost tube 78. Since there are'no outlets in the outermost tubes'78 by which it may escape, this-water will remain in.such tubes whenthe device is mounted as shown in Fig. 17 even after the water supply .to the innermost tubes 79 is out 01f. Since the tubes 78 will"ren1ain filled with water, they will act as anchoring means tovretain the devicein position on the ridge of a roof and-prevent it from being blown ofi of the roof even when it is not in use.

Thepressure of the water supplied-tothe hoses-will place the plastic walls. thereofundera certain. amount. of

stress. It is important, therefore, that the perforations. in the hose be so formed as not to provide a point for-a rip or: tear :tostart through-the hose since the life of the hose will be materially shortened if such is the case. As pointed out in my copending application, Serial bio/316,037, filed October 21, 1952, it is not desirable to mechanically cut or punch perforations in material such as plastic sheets since the edges of the perforations thereby. providedare rough. and jagged, and minute. rips are formed in the material which extend radially. from the edges of theperforation. When stress isv applied upon the material these tips tend to creep through. the hoseand the perforations enlarge .excessivelvwhen water: is:supplied to the hose. As

a result a greater volume of wateris emitted from the portion of the hose adjacent the connected end because of thegreater pressure thereat than is emitted from the portion of the hose adjacent the: remote end thereof, and the hose may eventually ripcompletely open if excessive water pressure is accidentally applied .thereto. It is preferable, therefore, that thelhosebe-providedwith openings or apertures such-as .are formed by the. method describedin my copending application, in which method a plastic sheet of high dielectric strength is pierced with a needle or other sharp instrument at each point it is desired to form an opening in the sheet, after which the sheet is passed between a pair of electrodes having a high voltage impressed thereon sufiicient to cause an arc discharge between the electrodes. The dielectric strength of the sheet is materially lessened at the points at which it is pierced, permitting an arc discharge to occur through the sheet at these points, the dielectric strength of the sheet preventing arcing therethrough at other points. The heat of the are through a pierced point causes the surrounding material of the sheet to melt and to fuse with the result that substantially circular openings are formed having a finite cross-section and smooth, continuous edges. Any rips or tears caused by the piercing operation are fused together by the heat of the are. As the material of the sheet is melted the cohesiveness and surface tension of the molten material causes it to form meniscus like beads around the periphery of an opening on each of the opposite sides of the sheet and in which beads the material solidifies when the arc discharge is terminated so that integral, annular reinforcing beads are formed about each opening to further strengthen the material and preclude the chance of a rip occurring from the opening. An enlarged cross-sectional view through an opening formed in a sheet of vinyl chloride-acetate sheet by the above described process is shown in Fig. 20. The reinforcing beads are indicated at 82 and it will be seen that the edges of the opening are smooth and continuous.

While it is understood that it is preferred the hose of the invention be made of thin, flexible material so that it may be rolled or folded into a relatively small bundle for storage, the hose may also be formed of heavier material whereby the walls of the individual tubes are of self-sup porting material in which case, however, it will be more diflicult to align the hose for sprinkling areas of various configuration and to coil it for storage. An additional advantage in using thin, flexible material is that the hose may be shortened to sprinkle small areas merely by folding the hose at some intermediate point or tying a knot therein to confine the water within the shortened length. In any event, it is preferable that the material used in forming the hose have some degree of resiliency whereby the material will stretch to permit enlargement of an opening and the escape of Water at a greater rate in response to an increase in the water pressure in the hose.

It will be seen that the present invention provides a sprinkling hose that may be made very inexpensively, that is convenient to handle and to use, and that may be conveniently stored in a very small space when not in use.

While in certain modifications the hoses of the invention comprise parallel cylindrical conduits which will theoretically individually have only a line contact with a supporting surface, it will be apparent that when such conduits rest upon the ground in side-by-side relation they in effect present to the ground a relatively flat broad surface defined by the lines of contact of the individual conduits. It is to be understood, therefore, that the term flat, broad surface" when used in the following claims is intended to include the above concept.

Having illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention permits of modification in arrangement and detail. I claim as my invention all such modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In the manufacture of a sprinkling hose of the class described, the steps comprising perforating a flat, elongate strip of thin flexible plastic along two narrow longitudinally extending areas of the strip, one spaced on each of the opposite sides of the longitudinal center line of said strip, and thereafter cementing each of the longitudinal marginal edge portions of the strip to longitudinally extending portions of the strip closely adjacent said longitudinal center line and between said areas to form a pair of parallel fluid conduits each having apertures in the wall thereof for the escape of fluid.

2. The method of manufacturing a sprinkling hose comprising perforating an elongate flat strip of flexible waterimpervious plastic to provide a plurality of apertures therethrough along a relatively narrow, longitudinally extending portion thereof spaced substantially medially of said strip, and thereafter cementing together in fluid-tight relation the opposite longitudinal marginal edge portions of said strip to form a fluid conducting conduit from which fluid may escape through said apertures.

3. The method of manufacturing a sprinkling hose comprising perforating an elongate flat strip of flexible waterimpervious plastic to provide a plurality of apertures therethrough, and thereafter folding said strip longitudinally and cementing the same to form an elongate fluid conduit means from which fluid may escape through said apertures.

4. A sprinkling hose comprising a single, elongate, rectangular sheet of thin, limp, flexible plastic material, the opposite longitudinal side portions of said sheet each having a medial part reversely curving inwardly toward the center of the sheet in overlapping relation to the central portion of the sheet, each of said side portions having a marginal edge part reversely curving outwardly away from the center of the sheet and between the corresponding medial part and the central portion of the sheet, each of said marginal edge parts being secured in fluid tight engagement to said central portion along a line closely adjacent the longitudinal center line of the sheet but displaced toward the corresponding side of the sheet to form a pair of elongate fluid conduits, said sheet having a plurality of longitudinally spaced perforations in each of said medial parts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 585,057 Stone June 22, 1897 585,058 Stone June 22, 1897 1,104,714 Sonnier July 21, 1914 2,070,665 Lepper Feb. 16, 1937 2,136,230 Berman Nov. 8, 1938 2,145,451 McCoy Jan. 31, 1939 2,401,542 Booth June 4, 1946 2,500,053 Andrews Mar. 7, 1950 2,566,833 Healy Sept. 4, 1951 2,602,302 Poux July 8, 1952 2,621,075 Sedar Dec. 9, 1952 2,655,181 Cooper Oct. 13, 1953 2,683,208 Andrews July 6, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 773,584 France Nov. 21, 1934 

